Flint is on the way to Monument to rest when he stops for water and encounters a partially blind old man and his three grandchildren including a baby. The parents were killed by Mescalero Indians. While looking for supplies Flint finds an older sister in shock. An Indian pony arrives with a dead Indian giving them an additional horse. With no milk for the baby the grandfather prays to god and a young boy arrives asking for help to milk his goat. Later Flint finds a young Shawnee boy who is lost named Sweeney. The other kids reject him but after Flint berates them for their attitude the three boys become friends. The fort Flint heads for is abandoned and Flint is hit with measles from the kids. They kill a Mescalero brave, take his horse, and leave the fort. They run into a small army patrol and the leader berates Flint for his "rookie" mistakes not realizing what Flint was up against. Sweeney is reunited with a padre looking for him and the rest join the wagon train.
—ananymous